320 The N.Z. Journal of Science and Technology. [Sept. 
Sir, — In the May number of the Journal Mr. Hubert W. Simmonds 
writes interestingly on the subject of the introduction of plants and animals 
into New Zealand. While recognizing that Mr. Simmonds’s ideas are based 
on such excellent sentiments as a love of nature and a desire to increase 
the opportunities for the enjoyment of the same, I still find myself in direct 
opposition to his proposals. For, if carried out, Mr. Simmonds’s suggestions 
would end in taking away from New Zealand whatever of special interest 
its natural productions exhibit, and replacing this by a conglomerate mixture 
characteristic of nowhere in particular. He would introduce warblers and 
robins and wagtails froifi Australia, bee-eaters and kingfishers from Africa, 
tits and other birds from Great Britain, Australian marsupials and European 
tree-frogs, chameleons from South Africa, and Lepidoptera from all parts 
of the world. The mere perusal of such a list fills me with shuddering 
horror. That we should deliberately endeavour to supersede what is left 
of our interesting fauna and flora by swamping it with the wholesale 
introduction of forms from other lands is, to me, a most regrettable pro¬ 
posal. That our native plants, our birds, and, to a less extent, our insects, 
are not so prominent as formerly is true, but that is only a strong reason 
for cherishing what remains. What is wanted is the fostering .of a taste 
for our natives. How often, in gardens, both public and private, do we 
see, instead of our beautiful and graceful toetoe, the stiff and inelegant 
clumps of the pampas grass ! If, in all our public gardens, a portion were 
set apart for New Zealand plants only I venture to say that it would 
prove of more interest than any other part of the grounds. Roses and 
sweet-peas and daffodils are not of great interest to visitors from other 
lands—they have probably seen finer examples elsewhere—but the clematis, 
the toetoe, the mountain-lily, the spear-grass, the purple-hearted olearia, 
the alpine celmesias, and a hundred others, these they are not familiar 
with. 
And there is another aspect of the question. Every introduced species 
acts adversely on the indigenous forms. We have a very great deal yet 
to learn about our animals and plants, and any action calculated to prevent 
the acquiring of such knowledge is to be deprecated. 
As to the economic value of the introduction of such forms, that is a 
most difficult question. The introduction of natural enemies has, of course, 
been a marked success in some instances, but there are not wanting cases 
in which a species perfectly harmless in one country has proved a perfect 
pest when introduced into another. 
Mr. Simmonds suggests that the marsh-tit would help in the eradication 
of the flax-grub. But the marsh-tit is not a nocturnal bird, and the 
caterpillar of Persectania steropastis (the species which does most of the 
damage in the South) hides during the day in the sheaths at the bases of 
the leaves, where no bird could capture it. I believe that the larva of 
Xanthorhoe praefectata, the northern flax-moth, also conceals itself during 
the day. 
To conclude, let us rather strive to preserve the characteristic features 
of nature in New Zealand than to obliterate them. Let it still be novae - 
zealandiae. Alfred Philpott. 
By Authority: Marcus F. Marks, Government Printer, Wellington.—1918. 
[2,000/7/18—11468 
